Walk the Line to Appear on CBS Friday, May 29  5/26/09

ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER REESE WITHERSPOON AND ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINEE JOAQUIN PHOENIX STAR IN 'WALK THE LINE," TO BE BROADCAST FRIDAY, MAY 29, 8:00-11:00 PM ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

WALK THE LINE, the story of the young Johnny Cash and his incendiary love affair with June Carter Cash, will be broadcast Friday, May 29 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

WALK THE LINE stars Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon, winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance as June Carter. Phoenix and Witherspoon sing every note of their roles themselves in live performances that capture the spirit of the music that drove Johnny and June's relationship.

The story begins in Depression-era Arkansas, as the film traces the origins of Cash's sound back to his beginnings as a sharecropper's son; moves through his wild tours with rock and roll pioneers Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Waylon Jennings; and culminates in his unforgettable 1968 concert in Folsom Prison.

He became the hottest artist of the day, outselling even the Beatles. WALK THE LINE chronicles the birth of a new kind of American artist who had to move past raw anger, the ravages of addiction, and the temptations of stardom to discover the voice that would make him a hero to generations. Those early years encompass the themes that ran through Cash's music and minimalist style: death, love, treachery, sin, hope and faith.

WALK THE LINE was directed by James Mangold ("Girl Interrupted") from a script by Mangold and Gill Dennis ("Riders of the Purple Sage"), based on Cash's books Man in Black and Cash The Autobiography. The film is produced by Cathy Konrad ("Scream," "Girl Interrupted") and James Keach ("The Stars Fell on Henrietta") and was developed for seven years with the close cooperation of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash before their deaths in 2003.

Source: CBS Press Release